Concerns Over Child Hospital Care
Nearly twenty per cent of hospitals are not providing twenty-four hour care for children, emergency life-support cover, a watchdog says.
The study into children's hospitals and those with specific children's services found surgeons in eight per cent of trusts did not operate on enough children to keep their skill levels up.
And just sixteen per cent of paediatric inpatient units did not carry out enough work to reach the minimum recommended professional level.
Inspectors also found only fifty per cent of services had adequate child protection standards in place, while only a quarter of nurses and less than ten per cent of surgeons and anaesthetists had the right training in how to communicate with children.
However, most services were found to be making progress towards creating a child-friendly environment, including play areas.
And ninety per cent of children requiring inpatient care were admitted into child-only wards, although for A&E and outpatients this dropped to thirty eight per cent and forty six per cent respectively.
The report said if networks of specialist care were created it would help improve round-the-clock cover and keep the skills of specialists up-to-date. It comes after the government set up the National Service Framework for Children and Young People in 2003 which established the standards of care the NHS should be reaching.
Commission chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said: "Children have distinct needs, they are not merely little adults. There remain a number of areas of variable and poor performance across the country that need to be addressed urgently."
Dr Patricia Hamilton, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "It starkly demonstrates that NHS hospitals have made poor progress in meeting the needs of children and young people.
"This is unacceptable, but not surprising, as children's services have long been under-resourced and have not been given the priority they deserve."
Bernard Ribeiro, president of the Royal College of Surgeons said: "I want to ensure that surgeons receive the best possible training so that they can provide the highest standards of patient care and safety.
"It is vital that we surgeons receive specialist training and on the job support to carry out our roles effectively."
Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, said,
"It is disappointing that three years after the introduction of the comprehensive standards, many hospitals are still failing to offer a safe, child-friendly service across all departments."
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